Sven Essig

Sven Essig (21 October 1788-15 March 1815) was a colonel of the Austrian Empire who fought in the Neapolitan War. He was killed in action in the Battle of Sessa Aurunca.

Biography
Sven Essig was born in Zagreb, Croatia in 1788. He became a soldier in the Austrian Empire cavalry in 1805 at the age of seventeen and fought in northern Italy during the Napoleonic Wars. In 1815 he was appointed to command a regiment of Uhlans of the Austrian army under the command of the Italian general Vincenz Ferrerius Bianchi at the time of the Neapolitan War with the Kingdom of Naples, ruled by the former French Marshal, King Joachim Murat (Gioacchino I of Naples).

Essig led cavalry down a dirt trail in the Battle of Sessa Aurunca on 15 March 1815, hoping to charge the Neapolitan infantry. However, the army of Murat was equipped with 6-inch Howitzers that could lob explosive shells at the Austrian army over the treeline. Essig's regiment took heavy losses and Essig himself was killed by flaming shrapnel. Only 200 of his 450 Uhlans survived.